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The space at 9640 16th Ave. S.W. proved to have ample room for the first edition of the market. With 14 vendors, there was plenty of extra space left for the market to grow into. Market manager Mike Keysor told me that he plans to hold the event every weekend, and in fact may soon expand it to three days.

This is the third medical-cannabis farmers market in the Puget Sound area of which I'm personally aware. The other two (also both reviewed here) are based in Tacoma (with occasional markets in Seattle) and in Olympia (with occasional markets in Hoodsport). So the Northwest Cannabis Market could arguably be said to be the first to be truly Seattle-based.

NWCM, operated by collective Altai Mountain Organics, had originally planned to operate as a patient/farmer market in Everett. Luckily for White Center, Everett wasn't too keen on the new bud business, so Keysor began the search for a new market location in an environment friendlier to patients.

Which is exactly what I found. I noticed the relaxed vibe as soon as I walked into the building, and that impression was strengthened as I went from table to table chatting with vendors and checking out the cannabis flowers, edibles, concentrates, topicals, and clones.

Patient 2 Patient's gorgeous Green Gak has almost no smell until you light it up.

?There may have been only 14 vendors at this inaugural market, but I spotted plenty of good finds. One of my discoveries was Green Gak, light and airy buds from Patient 2 Patient Network (360-430-4816, info@patient2patientnetworkcom). Compared to most other strains, these flowers had almost no smell at all, at least until you lit them up.

Even better was the Afgooey from Larry (334-8676), who offers free delivery (call him to check if you're in his delivery area). These heavily frosted, sweetly aromatic beauties worked on every level, from shelf appeal to bouquet to the powerful high. It's good to see the Afgoo strain -- a hybrid with Afghan (indica) and Hawaiian/Thai (sativa) forebears -- become more commonly available in Seattle. Its unique genetics produce great medicinal effects like controlling pain and nausea, along with a pleasurable head-rush from the sativa side of the family.

There was a nice split between vendors of cannabis flowers and those selling edibles -- about half and half. And there were plenty of good edibles to be found, as well. One of my happiest finds was the Puffless Productions table, chock-full of all sorts of yummy treats (do not miss their caramel-walnut brownies) as well as cannabis capsules and several flavors of cannabis soda.

The capsules are sold as "THC Tabs" in packs of six, and each six-pack contains a total of 0.7 grams of cannabis. How do I know this? Because Puffless does a wonderful thing: They print the amount of cannabis on the label of each edible they make, so dosing is much easier to calibrate and control.